GOOP: It’s All Good

How about a collection of autobiographical recipes in which you tell us about the time Brad Pitt found out you cheated on him and then ate nachos? It would be the only gift I gave for a year. I would buy at least 50 copies. I would read it at least 50 times. I would eat everything in it. I will not, however, eat much of anything in this...

It’s All Good: It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great by Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen (whose name appears only in small font).

Interesting the choice of words here, non? “Recipes that will MAKE you look good” as opposed to “Recipes that will HELP you look good”...

It’s quite a promise.

And it’s quite a set of priorities that “looking good” comes before “feeling great”.

Maybe she’s just not pretending anymore. Maybe she’s not pretending that her clientele is pretty homogenous. After all, how many families on fixed incomes go on “restorative diets”?

As for the genesis of the book -- apparently G wasn’t feeling well and her fancy doctor told her to not eat all kinds of foods and that made her sad so, industriously, she decided to do what he said, but prove that there can be flavour in deprivation too!

Gwyneth Paltrow, Academy-Award winning actress and bestselling cookbook author, returns with recipes for the foods she eats when she wants to lose weight, look good, and feel more energetic.

Last spring, after a particularly grueling schedule and lapse of overindulgence, Gwyneth Paltrow was feeling fatigued and faint. A visit to her doctor revealed that she was anemic, vitamin D deficient, and that her stress levels were sky high. He prescribed an elimination diet to clear out her system and help her body heal. But this meant no coffee, no alcohol, no dairy, no eggs, no sugar, no shellfish, no deep-water fish, no wheat, no meat, no soy, nothing processed at all!

An avid foodie, Paltrow was concerned that so many restrictions would make mealtime boring, so, together with Julia Turshen, she compiled a collection of delicious, easy recipes that followed her doctor's guidelines. And it worked! After changing her diet, Paltrow healed totally, felt more energetic and looked great. Now, in IT'S ALL GOOD, she shares the go-to dishes that have become the baseline for the restorative diet she turns to whenever she feels she needs it. Recipes include: Huevos Rancheros, Hummus Tartine with Scallion-Mint Pesto, Salmon Burgers with Pickled Ginger, even Power Brownies, Banana "Ice Cream," and more!

I’ve no doubt all of this does actually taste...not bad. But how f-cking long does it take to make? And who has the time? And the patience to go looking for all these ingredients? I’ve never heard anyone question the availability of healthy foods. It’s not like people are walking around searching for the magical mystery of the Healthy Diet. We all know it exists. The problem that no one seems to be able to address is that eating healthy requires the kind of time and investment that a lot of people simply don’t have. Also, what is a deep-water fish and is it hard to find? Why do I need to be an expert in fish studies to eat Gwyneth’s food?

GOOP’s It’s All Good will be released April 2, 2013 just in time for Mother’s Day.